Fall Like Forever
by Tesmoname
Summary: Three hearts were altered forever on the unforgiving mountain. The Wind, The Betrayer, and the Final Dance come togetherone last time.


Fic Type is a One-Shot one chapter fic.

Fall Like Forever

**Based on the movie House of Flying Daggers**

By: Tesmoname

'_Fall' goes the body _

_that crawls in the dark,_

_and breathing, _

_her blood leaving –_

_she greets the day._

_Beauty and love _

_were like daggers to his heart,_

_as breathing, _

_their blood mingling-_

_she faded away._

- -

It had been such a beautiful dance-one that had been the beginning of what he had wanted to believe was love. Even now he refused to believe that such a thing had never been born between the two of them. He refused to acknowledge that another had held fast to her heart-despite the obvious love that he carried for the lovely woman with whom he had been so close.

Had been…

Even after what had just transpired, Lao could not come to terms with the fact that the love of his life-his life of devotion to the House-was now dead. Dead at the hands of he, he who had claimed to love her too much to let her live a life in the arms of another! Still he could see the look of betrayal that was thrown across her face as his blade was thrown across the clearing.

To pierce the heart he had held so dear.

"Oh Mai-why could you not find in within you to love me?" Lao whispered brokenly between clenched teeth as he tried desperately to focus on the pain, the physical pain that shrouded his entire body. He had no desire to dwell upon the events of earlier-and already his mind was stubbornly shying away from the memory of Mai's smile as he threw a drop of his blood onto the trees, even as she threw the dagger towards the crimson marker.

He had meant to use that drop of blood to initiate the dance that had bonded them in the beginning.

A dance of Edo-she had always been so lovely when she had danced for him. Lao would throw markers around for her, forcing her to listen to the sound of the small objects as they bounced off of the intended target. He remembered the way her body moved like liquid, her sinewy muscles sliding over one another as they strained to hit every spot in which the object had hit-all of this dance had to be done with speed, precision, and memory.

It was a deadly dance when used in battle, and Mai had always taken to it with exceptional passion… Passion he had wished to be turned towards a life with him as her husband.

Yet thoughts of Mai were far too painful-and every time he imagined her face before him, a whimper would escape from his frigid blue lips that only darkened with the falling of the snow.

"Why couldn't you just love _me?_' Lao asked to the white-washed surrounding before the efforts of the day caught up with him, and he fell forward into the snow, like the rise and fall of Mai's sleeves as she danced into forever…

- -

Jeiin continued to hold her close to him, not willing to let go of the only woman he had ever been able to care about. Sure he had lusted after, and had laid with many many women-but never before had he come to care about anything in the world as much as he cared for the beauty in his arms.

In three days time he had come to love the person who he had been sent to betray. And now as he thought about it-he wondered how it was that he had not loved her even sooner…

For despite the fact that she represented the enemy to those whom he worked for, Mai had been a gust of wind that carried the scent of the sea-a sea whose waves rose and fell across the expanse of eternity.

And now the rebel who had captured his heart-and had given hers to him in return-lay cold and still within his arms, and Jeiin couldn't even begin to understand why.

The only thing he could even recognize was that she was gone-far out of his reach. And even her song spewing from his mouth could not wake her again, and he did not think that any force on this earthly world could.

Silently he blamed the war for her death, as he blamed the rebels, as he blamed Lao the Betrayer, as he blamed them all! No rational sense could make him realize that it was also these things that had brought them together, let them spend time together-no matter how brief.

And it had been brief, reminding him of some flickering flame, one that would never last in weather like this-just as their love had not been able to last through the trials that had been thrown towards them-most note-ably the barrier that separated his soul and heart from hers.

Death.

Yet he did not think it would be too long before that shield was non-existent. For he could feel his heart's blood fleeing from between the lacerations and gouges made from Lao's blade. But these wounds were merely superficial to him, even the pain that China was experiencing seemed meaningless and trivial to the agony he felt within his chest.

A powerful blast of wind fell upon them, and he reflexively cradled Mai even closer to the warmth of his chest, shielding her broken body from the frigidness of the falling snow and the raging wind.

"Wind." Jeiin murmured quietly, remembering how important that element had been to them and their strange relationship. Fleetingly he wondered if it would continue to move people and their fate's. He remembered how lovingly she had whispered his alias as he had held her tight in a passionate embrace.

Jeiin had been the wind, ever moving, always detached and playful-hardily one for seriousness, and always floating high up above everyone else. And then he had begun his journey with Mai, who became his anchor to the earth, and had joyously taken him on the free fall of his life-a falling into love in which he could have fallen for what seemed like forever.


End file.
